The Prime Minister said as the Independence Day holiday approaches, people should use the time to reflect. He said people should be grateful to be citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
Speaking on Brighter Morning with Bhoe on MCTV on Friday, Dr Rowley said significant progress had been made in 59 years of independence, although there were some missed opportunities along the way.
“If we had been better savers during the two periods of boom when there was a lot of money coming into the country, even though we had made significant improvements in quality of people’s lives and developed significant infrastructure, we would have been in a better situation in periods like the current one where we are short of revenue.”
“I am also concerned that we did not place enough store in our value system. We have given up a lot of very valuable traditions, and a vacuum exists, especially for young people who are growing up with no appreciation for the role of respect and patience and other things that are important to a society.”
He said the most formidable challenge facing the country today was the requirement to preserve the gains that had been made, as these had been funded by a revenue stream which was now under threat with the changes in the energy industry.
“I don’t think people are taking the challenges we face serious. There’s a certain amount of frivolity, and we need the society to appreciate its circumstances and get serious on serious matters. There is a blame game accompanied by a sense of entitlement.”
Rowley said he was in favour of incremental constitutional reform but government had not been able to work on it because there were many other issues to deal with.
“Parts of the constitution have outlived their usefulness, while others I still have difficulty with. Having chosen the Westminster system to model our parliamentary system after, we chose to hamstring it with service commissions.
"I think we were afraid of the power we were given when we were granted independence. Those provisions were good when we became newly independent but now the service commissions are outmoded. Changing that requires significant consensus but, in the meantime, we suffer from not being able to apply good management practices.”
He said Diego Martin and Siparia would soon be elevated to borough status as part of local government reform.
Rowley said for those who call him authoritarian and dictatorial, he had not used any power and authority than hadn't been used by other Prime Ministers before him.
“What have I done with 22 seats that the Prime Ministers who had all seats and 27 seats respectively did not do? I used the same power they used. What action have I done that could be called dictatorial?
"Of course political opponents have described me as dictatorial. Even before I became PM, there were those who did not agree with my style, but I’m respectful, open, pragmatic. I don’t sugarcoat things. Some people are uncomfortable with that, but for tho
